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Tuesday, 3 November 2015

This Week In 1985: November 3, 1985

I was doing some reading up on the band that had the highest debut on the ARIA singles chart this week in 1985, and I came across an American site that referred to them as one-hit wonders. Which they were - in the US and the UK, thanks to a smash hit cover version.

New face, even bigger hair: Pseudo Echo v2.0

Unfortunately, despite a string of hits in Australia - including five other songs that made the top 15 - that one big single has tended to define them. This week in 1985, my favourite song by the band in question debuted on the top 50 - and it's a tune worth revisiting.

ARIA Top 50 Singles and Albums Chart - week ending November 3, 1985

Another band defined by its cover versions rather than its original songs - and with good reason, in this case - held down the number 1 spot in Australia this week in 1985. UB40's remake of "I Got You Babe" with Chrissie Hynde spent a second week on top.

New EntriesNumber 49 "Like Wow - Wipeout" by Hoodoo GurusPeak: number 15"Biitersweet" had given the Hoodoo Gurus their first top 20 single and follow-up "Like Wow - Wipeout" repeated the feat, peaking one place higher and ensuring the Mars Needs Guitars album pretty muchremained a top 20 fixture until the end of the year. I was surprised to learn that the song was originally only intended as a B-side - but producer Charles Fisher saw its hit potential.

Number 48 "Road To Nowhere" by Talking HeadsPeak: number 16Here's another band achieving their best-ever chart position (up until that point) with the second single from their latest album. An improvement on the peak of "The Lady Don't Mind", the top 20 placing of "Road To Nowhere" was a first for Talking Heads, whose Australian breakthrough had come with 1981's "Once In A Lifetime". Although the band's distinctive quirkiness was still intact, "Road To Nowhere" was certainly their most commercial single to date, even managing to sound pretty upbeat about the concept of oblivion.

Number 46 "I'm Goin' Down / Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" by Bruce SpringsteenPeak: number 41With this sixth single from Born In The USA, it finally seemed as though the Bruce Springsteen juggernaut had run out of steam in Australia - although in the US, "I'm Goin' Down" was yet another top 10 hit for The Boss. Not even the double A-side billing of non-album track "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" could breathe life into the single like "Pink Cadillac" had done for "Dancing In The Dark" towards the end of its marathon chart run. Still, six top 50 singles is a lot more than most artists manage from one album - and the chart performance of this fairly unmemorable track is testament to the fact that Bruce could do no wrong at this point in his career. In fact, there was still enough good will for a seventh single to be lifted from Born In The USA, which we'll see before the end of the year.

Number 43 "Lonely Ol' Night" by John Cougar MellencampPeak: number 32Johnny Cougar, as he was then called, had enjoyed early success in Australia - hitting the top 5 here with "I Need A Lover" more than a year ahead of his US breakthrough with the same song. Since then, the tables had turned. 1983's Uh Huh - released under new moniker John Cougar Mellencamp - failed to generate much interest locally but delivered two top 10 singles ("Crumblin' Down" and "Pink Houses") in America. Australia got back on board with the Scarecrow album, which was kicked off by this lead single, another US top 10 hit and JCM's first ARIA top 40 single since 1982's "Jack And Diane". Although Scarecrow saw a shift to more political subject matters, that wasn't evident on "Lonely Ol' Night", which was another good ol' rock'n'roll love song.

Number 42 "Alive And Kicking" by Simple MindsPeak: number 21Putting their worldwide smash "Don't You (Forget About Me)" behind them, Simple Minds got back to releasing their own songs with this lead single from the Once Upon A Time album (which didn't even include their monster soundtrack hit). Of course, had it not been for the song from The Breakfast Club, there probably wouldn't have been quite the same level of interest in the Scottish band - especially in America, where they'd previously been unknowns. A perfect example of their mid-'80s stadium sound (which, granted, wasn't for everyone), "Alive And Kicking" is rousing, sing-along synth-rock at its best, swapping the "la, la, la" refrain of "Don't You..." for a "ba, da, da, da" outro.

Number 35 "Don't Go" by Pseudo EchoPeak: number 4It might not have looked it to casual observer, but since they'd last been on the top 50, Melbourne synthpop band Pseudo Echo had undergone something of a transformation - with original member Tony Lugton (the blond one) replaced by the more impressively coiffed JamesLeigh. Whether it was the fresh blood or, more likely, the fact that "Don't Go" was their best single to date, the four-piece found themselves back in the top 5, peaking at the exact same position reached by debut single "Listening" two years earlier. Annoyingly, the band are justifiably considered one-hit wonders overseas since their 1986 cover of "Funky Town" achieved what songs like "Don't Go" didn't and that remake even tends to overshadow all their other hits here in Australia, but it is worth rediscovering the back catalogue of possibly Australia's best '80s synthpop band.

Listen to this week's new entries on my Spotify playlist of all the top 50 hits from 1985 (updated weekly):

Next week: a homegrown international superstar follows up the biggest album of her career with... well, you'll see. Plus, a band whose 1990 single I despised but whose 1985 single I quite liked.

1 comment:

I'd heard of Cock Robin through a German VHS I picked up, but hadn't heard this track. I never knew they charted here. It's not bad. Rather unfortunate name for a band, though.

'Road To Nowhere's OK, but a bit droning.

Don't think I'd heard the Bruce Springsteen track before.

'Alive & Kicking' almost sounds like a U2 track in parts. I could easily picture Bono singing it.

I didn't know the Tina Tuner track at the time, and even though I've heard it a handful of times in the last few years, it's one of those non-entity songs that I can never remember how it goes, even as I'm listening to it again here. 34 was a rather generous peak for it.

I don't think I knew 'Don't Go' until it aired on a Countdown repeat a few years ago. Decent track, though my favourite of theirs is 'A Beat For You'.